


Never Thinking

by LittleMissListless



Category: The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Cleo has to comfort a friend in the middle of the night, Crying, F/F, Female Relationships, Memories, My First Fanfic, Nightmares, Serpent's Shadow spoilers, Short One Shot, Texas Nome, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:58:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6081942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissListless/pseuds/LittleMissListless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>***Warning: Spoilers for the beginning of The Serpent's Shadow. You have been warned.***</p>
<p>Cleo wakes up in the middle of the night, and realizes one of her books was left in the Great Room. She sneaks out to retrieve it, but while passing the door to the room of a close combat magician friend of hers hears crying. Deciding to investigate, Cleo finds one of the last people she expected to break down pouring tears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Thinking

**Author's Note:**

> Clarification for setting/timeline confusion (spoiler alert): Set just after Carter, Sadie, and the trainees return after trying to retrieve the last copy of The Book of Overcoming Apophis. The OC in the story is Madeline, all other characters are canon unless said so.

A dull  _thunk_  echoed throughout the darkened Great Room, the only noise to be heard since the arriving of Brooklyn House's curfew of ten o'clock when all trainees had to, at least, be in their rooms. Cleo winced and rubbed her leg, the cause of the sound having been her harshly barking her shin against a table.

"Ah! Ow!" The Brazillian girl hissed, massaging what was sure to eventually darken into a spectacular bruise. Not that she had stumbled all the way down to the main floor of the magical mansion/magician school just for leg pain. It was actually a case of waking up at about one forty in the morning, trying to go back to sleep, wanting to read until she got tired again, then realizing that she had left her favorite book on the table in front of the Great Room's sofa. As Sadie would say, "Bloody brilliant move (note the sarcasm)."

So, instead of waiting until morning to get the novel back, Cleo decided to make her way out of her room, down at least two flights of stairs, and over to a table that was practically invisible in the darkness. Because of course it had to be in the section of the room that got virtually no moonlight, and of course, she had neglected to bring any sort of device that would provide light. This led her to misjudge the position of the table, despite her incredible memory, and walk right into the corner of it.

_'And they call me the memory brainiac of Brooklyn House,'_ Cleo thought sarcastically, reaching a hand out over the table for her book. ' _I apparently figured wandering around at night without at least a flashlight at my disposal is a perfectly fine idea. Madeline might be rubbing off on me.'_

The fleeting thought of the brunette tomboy of a combat magician distracted the girl from her pain, however not from her task which was proving more difficult as she seemed to be feeling everything but the book. Her fingers brushed what felt like a dirty sock ( _'Probably Julian's,'_  she thought, cringing) before the familiar texture of a hardcover book found its way into her grasp. Cleo lifted the novel off the table and successfully tucked it under her arm without incident. Now, however, she had to get back.

  
Which involved climbing those flights of stairs.

  
And going up them, this time, was more likely to result in her tripping and ending up sprawled out over the steps.  
  


Yeah, this would be fun.

  
The black-haired girl gave a breathy sigh before retracing her steps, initial goal accomplished.

  
~~~~

  
Cleo counted it as lucky that she was careful enough to not end up in the scenario she had imagined. Now that she was on the third floor, where the trainee bedrooms were situated, it should be a fairly straightforward path to get to her room and probably pass out for the remainder of the night. Walking forwards until she felt the railing of the wraparound balcony that was pretty much the majority of the third floor, Cleo began making her way back to her room, using the railing for guidance. Fortunately, for her and the trainees who had rooms near hers, Cleo knew the location of her room's door by heart so there was a minimal chance of her entering the wrong room.

However, as she let go of the railing and began feeling along the wall for her door, Cleo heard ragged breathing and little whimpers. It was coming from the room she happened to be right beside at that exact moment. The young magician froze, hearing gone hypersensitive. Was someone... crying?

A quick debate rolled around in her mind, the type that takes about two seconds. She could enter the room and attempt to comfort the person, or she could walk away and pretend nothing had ever happened. The former choice won out, as Cleo could just leave if the person had no wish for her to be there, and she would spend the next day feeling guilty if she didn't at least _check_ on the person.

Slowly turning the knob and pushing the door open, Cleo poked her head in. What met her eyes surprised her.

Her best friend since coming to Brooklyn House, Madeline, was curled into a ball on her bed, weeping.

Stunned, Cleo could only watch for a few moments as the brunette continued her silent sobbing, not noticing the other girl in the doorway.

Cleo stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Madeline's head snapped up at the sound of the door shutting. Her face was streaked with salty tears, the flap of hair that hung over her right eye plastered to her forehead.

"C-C-Cleo? W-why a-are you," she paused to sniff, "still awake?"

In answer, Cleo walked forwards and hugged her friend tightly, gently rocking her back and forth. Madeline didn't hesitate to return the hug, burying her face into Cleo's shoulder. 

"Shhh..." She whispered soothingly, rubbing the older girl's back as sobs continued to shake her frame. Cleo had no idea what had made Madeline so sad, miserable to the point of shedding tears, but then again, it had been a rough day.

"The Tex... The Texas Nome, they all died..." Madeline whimpered. "Fighting for the scroll, while they were... attacked by the Serpent's m-minions..."

A grimace ghosted across the younger girl's face. Yes, she had heard all about that. Not many details, but Cleo had definitely heard about the total destruction of the Texas Nome. What really surprised her though was that _Madeline_ was breaking down so severely over it. The girl who could flip from energetic child to open-minded leader to older sister... and friend. As she stroked the brunette's boyishly short hair, Cleo reflected on how she had always thought of Madeline as a strong person, far stronger than herself. Guiltily, she was glad that she hadn't joined the quest to rescue the last scroll, as the tortured looks on the returning kids' faces was enough to let her glimpse the hell they had seen.

"T-There was a c-crater... Blasted into the g-ground... Oh, Cleo, there was nothing left of them! It was as if... as if..." Madeline's voice dropped to a shaky whisper. "As if they'd all been disintegrated... e-except... f-for the b-blood..."

Cleo continued to listen to the other girl's almost incoherent mumblings, silent and continuing her (hopefully) soothingly gentle back rubs.

"O-on the edge... Bloodstain... M-more around the... I-I didn't think..." Madeline didn't finish her sentence before a fresh round of tears rendered her vocal chords useless for speaking.

"Shhhh... It wasn't any of your faults. There was nothing you could do," Cleo murmured.

"We didn't even get the fucking scroll," She muttered bitterly. "Was it really worth it? Was it?!"

That was a question Cleo couldn't answer for the other girl. Her answer to the question, however, was certain.

For her, it was always worth it. As long as Madeline was safe.

As long as they were together, they would be alright.

Even if Doomsday was imminent, and everyone's fates were sealed.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I know I am an amateur, especially at this. You may have absolutely NO FRIKEN IDEA what I'm talking about in this fic, and frankly my writing sucks, but I still wanna write it. Hey, I made an account on this site, might as well put it to use, eh?


End file.
